when the sky met the ground (again)
by xValkyrie
Summary: 2,199 days since Clarke had heard from her friends that fled to space. With a young Nightblood at her side and years to finally reflect on everything that's happened, how will Griffin feel when she sees her friends again? Which friends are left?
1. death

Six years and seven days. 2,199 days since Clarke has seen a single person from before. She either lost them to the sky or to the ground and they were too far to be reached. Still, every day she radioed to the Ark in hopes someone would pick up. No one ever did.

By this point, her hair was much shorter and there were pink streaks in it. She had aged but still looked the same. She caught glimpses of herself only rarely but she was still able to recognize herself.

She would've been completely lost and alone if it wasn't for the child she found after year two. Clarke had searched far and wide looking for people to help dig out her friends and mother in the bunker buried beneath the rubble of Polis. All she found was destruction; homes torn apart by the massive waves of Praimfaya, bodies left scorched by its heat, and memories too painful to be relived. Then things changed when she found a little girl. This girl, Maddie, gave her hope for seeing the people she loves again. She reminded her that there was still good and that she wasn't alone; not only was Maddie another living person after the destruction of the Earth, she was a Nightblood. The Earth had been safe to live on again for over a year now but there was definitely an advantage to being a Nightblood as they could withstand the radiation shall it ever return.

The Griffin told stories to Maddie of what the Ark was like and how there were 101 kids to come down from the sky to inhabit the Earth. She told them of how they were not alone. There were stories of the Grounders, Mount Weather, the Ice Nation, but more importantly, there were stories of friendship and love. She told her of the fierce Commander that brought the clans together; how green met blue with eyes and views. Maddie was curious, of course, so Clarke obliged.

" _Was she tough like you?" Maddie asked._

" _Even tougher. She fought with swords and knives, and even her bare hands. She held the weight of the world on her shoulders and she never tripped up. She was special," Clarke answered with a tear in her eye._

She told Maddie about the mechanic that saved their asses countless times. She told her that her name was Raven and she was the strongest, most badass person she ever met. Raven was the only reason they were able to survive most of their challenges, including the few that got to return to the sky when Praimfaya hit. The two women had their moments when they didn't get along, but Clarke considered Raven to be one of her best friends in the end. Raven was, by far, Maddie's favorite person to hear stories about. She pictured a woman with a weird face mask on, an orange jumpsuit made out of unbreakable materials, and a smile that shined so bright it put the stars to shame.

" _She's a Spacewalker." Clarke spoke._

It was an average day for Clarke and Maddie until there was a loud boom in the sky. Clarke told Maddie to start loading the guns as she jumped out of the back of the Rover they lived in. Aiming her rifle towards the noise, she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the rocket that was launched into the sky six years and seven days ago returning to the ground. "Maddie!" Clarke kept her eye on the rocket, tracking it to see where it was going to land, "stop what you're doing and start the Rover!"

After the pair drove for only fifteen minutes, they were able to get to where the rocket had landed about ten minutes prior. Clarke shut off the engine and told the young girl to stay in the vehicle for now just in case. She kept her rifle slung around her shoulder, a pistol holstered on her left leg as she approached. The door of the rocket opened and her mouth nearly dropped when she saw someone step out and take their helmet off.

"Raven?" she asked, mistrusting of her own eyes.


	2. and all of its friends

"We left her to die!" Raven shouted as she struggled in the restraints of the seat in the rocket. Her heart raced as her blood boiled, angry that they had to leave Clarke behind. She knew that Clarke would've done anything to save them but she didn't want her to risk her life. She saw what happened in the City of Light and Clarke always put her people first. Her own happiness didn't matter as long as everyone else was alive and well. Raven respected that and she would do the same for her friends in a heartbeat. They were all she had left.

Six people went up to space but they knew going in that not everyone was going to see the ground again, if any of them made it at all. They had sustainable food, water, oxygen, and energy but things always seemed to go wrong for the group.

Monty and Harper started the journey in love and happy (for the most part) but as time went on Monty couldn't handle the loss of his friend Jasper and his mother. He blamed it on himself and took it out on Harper by yelling and eventually the words he spit were just too much for her to take and she ended things with him. It made things on the ship awkward as they still had to see each other most days and they shared a limited space.

Echo spent most of her time training for the war she believed they would return to on the ground. She spared with Raven, using whatever they could find as weapons. They strengthened each other and made each other better, pushing each other to the breaking point without toppling over. It brought a sense of control and power back to Raven that she feared she'd lost when she put her leg brace on for the first time.

Murphy and Emori stayed constant for the entire trip. They only bickered occasionally and it was quickly resolved. They made each other better, too, by just being there for each other. They didn't fear returning to the ground because they knew they'd have each other no matter what.

The older Blake spent most of the time bitter. He was bitter that they had to leave his sister behind and that they left Clarke outside as the death wave hit. Most of his time on the ship was in solitude, leaving the leadership position up to Murphy. Of course, Murphy slacked off sometimes and Raven got things going again. She would've been the true leader if she actually wanted to be.

Things were a bit different for Raven though. She wanted to be up among the stars. The view from the window in her room was the best thing she'd ever laid eyes on. The ground took everything she ever cared about, everyone she ever loved, and ripped it away from her. First, she lost Finn. He was the boy next door that she loved and he broke her heart and just when she thought she might be able to forgive him, she was taken from him. Whether it was a mercy kill or not, Clarke took him from her in more ways than one. Then she saw her friends die from famine and disease and from wicked things that never would have happened had the Ark stayed functional. She lost her leg and her sense of freedom. On top of that, she lost Luna. Luna was a Nightblood, but she was so much more than that to Raven. Her friends may have used the woman for her blood but Raven loved Luna for who she was. She was the calm before the storm, the peaceful waves in the ocean. She was a beacon of light in her darkest days and she was killed by someone Raven used to call a friend. The worst part was that Raven didn't even know about Luna's passing until she overheard Bellamy talking about how Octavia killed her to Murphy. With only the slightest shred of hope that Clarke could have survived the death wave, she lost the one reason she might not hate returning to Earth. The last thing Raven lost was her mind. ALIE had fried her brain and caused hallucinations and seizures, with the plus side of transferring priceless information into her mind. She didn't have control most of the time and she even had to restart her own heart to keep herself alive. She had been through hell and back and space was Raven's only happy place; she could get in a suit and spacewalk, feeling weightless when everything else was holding her down. She felt no pain among the stars.

Unfortunately for Reyes, they had to return someday. Today was that day.

"We're coming in hot!" She shouted as she braced herself on the control panel of the ship as they entered the Earth's atmosphere. "No, no… we're way off course!"

"Come on, Reyes, I don't want my knees to shoot through my skull!" Murphy yelled back to the captain, gripping tightly on the bars in front of him as he screwed his eyes shut.

"I'm trying!"

After an emergency crash landing, everyone took some time to get their bearings straight before attempting to unbuckle themselves. The alarms were going off in the rocket, smoke coming out of every vent. The door launched open as an emergency procedure, allowing the smoke to escape. Luckily, no one was seriously injured with everyone only having cuts and bruises. Raven had a deeper laceration across her forehead from her helmet cracking open on the control panel when her head smashed against it during landing, but it was nothing compared to the trauma she'd already been through. Deep cuts felt like scratches to her.

Raven was the first to step out, curious to what she gave up space for. She looked around and saw that there was definitely damage done to the Earth but she did see green in the distance. She took her helmet off and took in a deep breath, dropping her helmet to the ground. She smiled when she remembered how she had nearly the same landing when she first arrived on Earth years ago.

The rest of the group came out of the ship, taking their helmets off one after another. They each took in the air and their surroundings. Just as Raven was starting to feel less on edge…

"We're not alone!" Echo shouted as she motioned for everyone to get behind some of the burnt trees nearby. Men in strange black hazmat suits approached them, firing a swarm of bullets their direction.

 **Raven wasn't the one Clarke saw after all.**


End file.
